WILMINGTON, CA, 4 September 2006--Apparently without respect for unions or workers, a handful of minutemen attempted to invade and disrupt the annual Union Labor Day picnic and festival at Banning Park today. At about 12:15, about a dozen minutemen with signs managed to get about a hundred feet into the park before they were confronted by a couple of hundred union members. Coincidentally, as they approached, the SEIU speaker was talking about the "most vulnerable" workers, those who work for less than minimum wage without union protection. As the words "cazamigrantes" and "minutemen" spread through the park and the crowd grew, the police and union workers intervened to move the minutemen out of the park. By 12:30, the minutemen had re-assembled across the street and protested unnoticed for the rest of the celebration.

The family fiesta, with classic cars and classic rock, speakers, and booths for IWW, UTLA, CNA, SEIU, Teamsters, and today's heros, the EAA, continued without incident. They were joined by numerous organizations supporting the workers' struggle, including Radical Women, ANSWER-LA, the International Socialist Organization, and the Peace and Freedom Party.

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... a tiny and insignficant number of moronic MinuteKKKlansman who think they reflect America and it's values.

Boy, I'm always glad you guys come out to play. Your small numbers prove you're a bunch of worthless nobodies who have nothing better to do with your time.

Who do white supremasists oppose unions? I would expect that it's because these white supremacist Christians are all Republicans and would naturally oppose equity in the work place.

My opinions only and only my opinions.

unions are american just like apple pies and baseball. WTF? the ultranationalist (SOS) was trying to disupt this celebration of labors.

They'll customize anything to fit their views, including religion.

The person who organize this protest is Heather Evans of San Pedro. She has been protesting the day laborer centers in Los Angeles with Save Our State. Also, she does border watch with the minuteman. Her id in Save Our State forum is Jalira. She is very dangerous person. She drives a new navy blue VW Jetta.

I'm just wondering why these types don't like Unions. Most union members in the United States are white, after all, so I don't see the connection here.

Someone in a hidden post says the MInutemen / SOS have, shall we say, "guts" to come out in small numbers to oppose us.

NONSENSE.

The police always protect them, and attack us. The day will not come when I see a police club smash into a racist MM/ SOS piglet.

Pigs don't beat their own young.

That's a good point. I don't recall the police beating on the MM/SOS. There have been some who mess around when them and such. But not beat them like they beat counter protesters, unnecessarily, in Hollywood.

I wouldn't say they have guts. More like self-glorifying attention seeking psuedo-patriots.

i've rarely been prouder of my sisters and brothers. good job, ilwu security!

The topic was unions / labor which goes hand in hand. My comments were on topic and I can not figure out why they were hidden. I am not for or against any one particular group (except for congress) My post was not taking some political side. I stated facts that unions are dieing and pointed out some of the reasons why they will not be around much longer yet someone decided to hide my post. If you disagree I welcome debate. I can go on forever giving example after example of whats happening to unions. My union job was outsourced and there was nothing the union could or would do. What are you doing to prevent the unions from becoming a relic in this country? Answer....Hiding posts.


http://la.indymedia.org/news/hidden.php?id=177057

obi - the SOS policy is to put all dissenters in a segregated forum. They also require registration wth a valid email address, which they could potentially use as a bargaining chip with the feds. SOS deletes posts and there's no way to see them again, while here, they are "hidden" and can be seen with a little work.

The commies here give people more freedom than the fascists at SOS. Choose your dictator, little Nazi.

I don't know why that post is hidden.

I am not SOS or MM as you alude to. I made an honest post based on my experiance and what I have read and learned. If it upsets people it should. Thats the point. If you want unions to be a viable force you need to take steps to stem the tide. Self preservation I guess is what I am advocating.

To johnk. Sorry, I thought you were adressing my post.

Reposting article
My Comments is that there is truth in this persons post. Long Shoreman have just recently found out what is going on.


Unions, What unions?
by What don't you see • Wednesday, Sep. 06, 2006 at 6:20 AM

Unions are dieing unless of coarse you belong to one that represents government employee's.

Ford will be manufacturing ali its cars and trucks ouside of the U.S. by 2009 following most of the country's other manufacturers (at least the large ones) Go to a store and compare Made in the U.S.A. to the Made in "_________" 10, 15, 20 to 1 ratio.

India has a has a trucking school that is training students for U.S. jobs and many trucking firms are applying for H1B visa's to import these trained drivers displacing the union drivers.

Deep water ports in Mexico and other south american country's are being developed and improved to accomodate large container vessles. In 10 years or less most imports to this country will enter from the southern border displacing the long shoreman on both coasts. Good old NAFTA, CAFTA and SPP

Companies are offering early retirement packages so they can hire new employee's without providing benefits.

Service industry unions will be busted up if current legal immigration numbers continue to rise. Its a revolving door policy.

The list goes on and on. Hoffa would be turnimg over in his cement coffin if there was room. I know most do not see it but unions are on the outs and will be only read about in history books soon. Business controls the U.S. politicians and they do not like unions.

No political party represents labor anymore.

Again I say unions, what unions? What don't you see?

So what's the solution to this sagging membership?

The right wingers say things like close the borders and stop immigration, keep undocumented workers out of unions, and go isolationist, but, that's really ignoring the fact that the US is the main force behind globalization. That's just reality -- globalization expands business and creates a demand for labor, be it American labor, H1Bs or janitors who clean up the offices where they work.

The labor movement, since the 1950s, when they went anti-communist, was generally solidly anti-immigration. Some unions were anti-immigrant as well, and some were racist. Given that immigration has always been one of the primary sources of "the working class" and economic growth in general, the anti-immigrant policy was a losing one.

Reversing that policy has helped unions hold ground in LA.

I don't think it's a question of politics or even personal attitude to the situation. Labor folks remain generally against immigration and the H1B. They're just dealing with reality -- a reality that they, partly, helped to create by not pushing to organizer working people as a class. (And I don't mean "the middle class.")

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-labor5sep05,0,7289436.story?coll=la-headlines-california
http://www.alternet.org/workplace/41275/

"All right!" said Maria Elena Durazo, chief of the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor, at a union-sponsored breakfast that included most of the Los Angeles City Council and the region's state legislators, as well as the entire statewide Democratic ticket in next month's election. "We're building power!"

Look, you can feel all warm and fuzzy with statements such as the one Maria Elena Durazo made but the reality is that jobs are being out sourced and companies are being moved overseas into cheap labor markets. The only way to reverse these trends are import tariffs and legislative penalties (or tax) on companies who contract services to foreign companies. Trade deficit gaps need to be closed and free trade abolished. Company mergers with foriegn companies need to be haulted.

The reality is none of this is going to happen. Unions will soon be bargaining to keep jobs in the U.S. instead of helping the worker achieve a better benefit package and job security. They will be negotiating wage decreases instead of increases to keep union members working. U.S. unions are competeing with cheap labor markets such as china most of asia and indonisia.

"Los Angeles City Council and the region's state legislators, as well as the entire statewide Democratic ticket " will have no influence on trade issues that are the core (or should be) to the survival of unions. Take 401K's as an example. Many companies offer it instead of a company pension. Why is that? It's cheaper for the business. But there is an underlying issue with it. Most 401K's are based on markets (i.e. Wall street) The employees now have a vested interest in the markets doing well. If profits are high then 401K's for the most part reflect it. Dump free trade and impose import tariffs and these profits decline affecting many 401K pensions. Politicians can talk big but when it comes down to it they will do little or nothing that would screw up peoples 401K's.

Unions really have no known way around this. Its all a facade.

"Given that immigration has always been one of the primary sources of "the working class" and economic growth in general, the anti-immigrant policy was a losing one."

True but in the same sentence you should have alluded to the fact that most immigrants work in a non-union shop which undermines or competes with union labor. A union construction worker 10 years ago made in upwards of $20.00 an hour avg. now they are lucky to find union construction work. They are competing with the small sub-contractors that draws there employees from a temporary immigrant labor pools.

Good for business profits but bad for unions and labor. The system favors business with or without immigrants. It is now designed so that labor has a minimal voice in the direction a business takes. Business can always out source some work, move the manufacturing base out of the U.S. and sub contract non-union labor. Legislation has been passed to weaken unions and in essence break up labor organizations. Example Airline bankruptcy and reorganization vs. unions contracts. Airlines win contract talks fail. Why? The law allows re-negotiations that favor the airline industry. Basically it allows them to dictate the contract. A take it or leave it mentality. They will always find someone or someplace to do the job. Alot of the maintenance work on U.S. carriers is done in Canada. This is one of the issues that organized labor is up against. Unions will never have the power they once had. Global economics 101.

I don't really disagree about the labor situation in general.

That 401k paragraph was funny though. Someone who thinks that a 401k gives someone a vested interest in corporate profitability is fooled. Wages are more important than dividends. If profits decline, you reinvest in bonds or other more stable assets. Ideally, the decline in profits is due to a rise in wages. Unfortunately, most people are morons and don't think like this. They're caught up in the casino-finance headtrip.

Those longshoremen at the rally will be out of work and begging for jobs when the SPP superhighway and the deepwater ports get up and running in Mexico. They'll look back and say "Why didn't we DO ANYTHING to stop it?"

That's ok. WalMart will be going full bore by then. Remember, they give a 10% discount to their employees. That oughta' help!

That is why he is so angry. Post -Hidden -Post -Hidden -Post -Hidden.
Bad day yesterday eh?